L'affichomania

FICHOMAN L’AF IA THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS

THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS 1 FICHOMAN L’AF IA THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS

elebrating the inexhaustible spirit of fin-de-siècle Paris, L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters features approximately 62 lithographic posters, ephemera, and videos by the five grand masters of the medium: Jules Chéret, the father of the modern poster; Eugène Grasset, who explored feminine beauty in rich, medieval settings; Alphonse Mucha, known for depicting sensuous women and the whiplash curves of their tresses; Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, creator of some of the best-loved images of the era; and finallyHenri de Toulouse- Lautrec, who pointed the way to modernism. These pioneering artists defined a never-before-seen and never forgotten art form: the color poster. L’Affichomania explores the achievements of these artists in concert with the poster’s role in French society, which includes its effect on the life of the Parisian street, the rise of advertising, the entertainment district of Montmartre, and the changing representations of women.

2 L’AFFICHOMANIA These pioneering artists defined a never-before-seen and never forgotten art form: the color poster.

Showcasing some of the most iconic era known as the Belle Époque. Drawn Cover Alphonse Mucha, Princess Hyacinth, 1911, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The images of the time, the exhibition is from the Driehaus Collection of Fine Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 1 Jules Chéret, composed of six groupings, five of and Decorative Arts, and organized by Folies-Bergère/La Loïe Fuller, 1893, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus which are devoted to the artistic the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Museum, 2015 2 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane contributions of each artist. A sixth Chicago, L’Affichomania: The Passion Avril, 1893, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 3 section recreates the era of public for French Posters presents an excep- Eugène Grasset, Cycles & Automobiles, 1899, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard performances in Paris, with posters tional selection of works that conveys H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 featuring the celebrated singers and the visual power and scale of posters, dancers that appeared at such venues and the range of expression by the as the Folies Bergère, Les Ambassa- medium’s best-known artists working in deurs, and Le Chat Noir. The posters turn-of-the-century Paris. date from 1875 to 1910, an exuberant

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THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS 3 POSTERS AS ART

rom the early 1880s to the The color poster was heralded as a late1890s, Paris witnessed the new art form as artists took hold of the first great era of poster art, commercial printing process known as sometimes called its Golden chromolithography and adapted it to Age. Although founded and led by their creative needs. In their hands, the Jules Chéret (who is often acknowl- color lithograph became a thrilling new edged as the movement’s artistic means of creating visual excitement in leader), the medium’s immense success the form of posters as well as the was due to a convergence of techno- domestically-scaled colored print. Some logical, economic, and legal develop- called it a “color revolution.” ments, all of which helped make the As pedestrians encountered this lively poster an inescapable presence on the new medium posted on the walls and streets of Paris. Perhaps the most kiosks of Parisian boulevards, the tempo important factor in the poster’s rise was of modern life seemed to beat faster. the passage of the Law on the Freedom By the mid-1880s, a thriving business 4 of the Press of 29 July 1881, which was firmly in place for advertising all greatly relaxed the strictures on printing manner of goods and for vividly and publishing. The timing coincided evoking the sensory experience of a with Chéret’s advances in color live show or other event using the color lithography. As a result, color-printed poster. With the advent of devoted posters were exhibited in the most collectors, public exhibitions soon public of galleries—the street—where followed, securing the medium’s place they began to blur the boundaries as a newly respected and enthusiasti- between fine and popular art. Parisians strolling the city soon found themselves cally received art form. on an urban stage with posters as the backdrop to their daily lives.

4 L’AFFICHOMANIA Parisians strolling the city soon found themselves on an urban stage with posters as the backdrop to their daily lives.

4 Eugène Grasset, Salon des Cent: Exposition Grasset, 1894, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 5 Théophile- Alexandre Steinlen, Lait Pur Sterilise, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 6 Alphonse Mucha, Zodiac, 1896, color lithograph on silk, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 6

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6 L’AFFICHOMANIA AFFICHOMANIA

he sudden popularity of and thus in their preservation—Sagot obstruction by posters from rival firms, posters fueled a passion introduced a series of twelve color the ephemeral poster nevertheless for collecting them, called lithographic posters by Jules Chéret became the subject of passionate affichomania. Some collectors that were printed on high-quality paper collecting in its own time. surreptitiously removed them from in a limited edition of fifty: a practice walls or illegally purchased them from increasingly common for art prints but a billposters, but most sought out dealers radical one for posters, which typically who had begun to specialize in them. were mass-produced and printed on Starting in 1886, Edmond Sagot had cheap paper.1 Shrewdly prescient the foresight to become the first and of their appreciating value, Sagot best-known poster dealer of the age arranged for Chéret to sign each print, when he began selling them in his which helped advance the poster as an gallery. Sagot acquired them in various art form. ways, whether through his connections Bright and bold and found everywhere to the venues where the posters were along the boulevards of fin-de-siècle hung, from the distributing agencies, Paris, the color poster was a brilliant or occasionally from the billposters fusion of art and commerce. It themselves. advertised cigarette papers and milk, By 1890, acknowledging the immortalized stage stars and bohemian emergence of affichomaniacs—a new cabarets, and won the adoration of breed of poster collectors with an passersby and art collectors alike. interest in the artistic value of the works, Subject as it was to wind, rain, and 8

7 Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Le Journal/La Traite des Blanches (The White Slave Trade), 1899, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 8 Jules Chéret, Yvette Guilbert, Au Concert Parisien, 1891, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus I Catalogue d’affiches illustrées anciennes et modernes, No 30: Paris, Librairie Ed. Sagot, 1891. Museum, 2015

THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS 7 FIVE GRAND MASTERS

Jules Chéret (French, 1836–1932)

Widely viewed as the father of the employed densely clustered figures In 1890, Chéret reached the apex of poster craze, Jules Chéret harnessed and ornate text, Chéret began to his profession when he received the the techniques of chromolithography— develop his own style. He imposed a prestigious Legion of Honor, one of the formerly a commercial medium used bolder, simplified graphic approach, highest distinctions in French society. for reproductions—and brought them and strove to integrate subject and text. It was a great triumph to be heralded into the realm of fine art. Chéret was in his own time as a “creator of an In time, Chéret had revolutionized the born to a working-class family, the son art industry,” and to be crowned in use of color in lithographic posters, of a typographer. Though he received the popular imagination as the “roi departing radically from the dour no formal art education, he showed de l’affiche” or “king of the poster.” black-and-white prints that had long some artistic talent as a youth and Chiefly credited with elevating posters been de rigueur in France. He used began apprenticing for a lithographer to an art form, Chéret remains the first three lithographic stones to print in at the age of thirteen. For the next master of the medium and a presiding blue, red, and yellow, applying various seventeen years he studied the exacting figure in the field. His bold imagery techniques to add texture or surface craft of lithography, gaining nuanced and colorful style inspired a new interest. Taken as a whole, his methods skill with color and form. generation of artists—one in which culminated in dynamic compositions the other four masters featured in this After designing some posters in the that prioritized the image while exhibition played a crucial role. prevailing commercial model that balancing its text.

8 L’AFFICHOMANIA Chéret remains the first master of the medium and a presiding figure in the field.

9 Jules Chéret, Folies-Bergère/La Loïe Fuller Émilienne d’Alençon, 1893, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 10 Jules Chéret, Théâtrophone, 1890, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015

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THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS 9 Eugène Grasset Alphonse Mucha (Swiss, 1841–1917) (Czech, 1860–1939)

Eugène Grasset designed posters in of media, designing medieval-style Born in Moravia (now the Czech a medieval style popularized by the furniture for Le Chat Noir (the famed Republic), Alphonse Mucha burst upon Arts and Crafts movement in Britain. Montmartre cabaret frequented by the poster scene in the late 1800s when He favored jewel-toned colors, intense Grasset, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec, he became the favored designer for patterns, and black outlines that and other members of the Parisian the actress Sarah Bernhardt, then the emulated stained glass. His imaginative avant-garde) and imaginative reigning queen of the stage. compositions sometimes included tilted compositions for wallpaper, tapestries, Mucha worked in an immediately planes and oversized flowers in an Art stained glass, ceramics, and even recognizable style of entwined, coiling Nouveau style. postage stamps. He also designed lines and subtle colors, using flowing spectacular jeweled ornaments that Grasset’s talents extended beyond hair instead of vines in an Art Nouveau were fabricated by Maison Vever posters to encompass all of the style, with gold accents for his haloed for the Exposition Universelle of 1900. decorative arts. He worked in a range figures, and Byzantine mosaic designs adding an exotic touch. Mucha preferred to work on an imposingly tall and narrow format to heighten the drama of his posters, often printing with two lithographic stones placed end-to- end to create his unique effects.

More than any other poster designer of the period, Mucha’s work was iconic of the Art Nouveau style, with characteristic sinuous lines and subtle colors.

11 Eugène Grasset, Coquetterie, 1897, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 12 Alphonse Mucha, Princess Hyacinth, 1911, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015 11

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THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS 11 Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen (French, born Switzerland, 1859–1923)

Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen was among the most prolific printmakers of the Belle Époque, reaching a wide cross-section of Parisian society through his work in posters, journals, and a host of other printed formats. In his 40-year career, Steinlen produced an astounding 4,300 images, of which only 37 were posters.

Steinlen depicted Parisians from all walks of life going about their daily business, though some of his most popular works featured his red-haired daughter Colette with the family’s housecats in advertisements for sterilized milk. Steinlen based himself in the bohemian environs of Montmartre, working constantly. By virtue of his long and active career—which also included music sheets, book covers, and innumerable journal illustrations— Steinlen’s images may have reached more levels of Parisian society than those of any other artist of his generation. His memorable design for Le Chat Noir cabaret club is among the most iconic of the era. Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Le Chat Noir, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2016

12 L’AFFICHOMANIA His willful disregard for traditional rules resulted in some of the most memorable images of this period.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a central figure in Montmartre’s bohemian nightlife scene. Born to an aristocratic family, Toulouse-Lautrec struggled with physical deformities from his youth, and found solace in artistic pursuits. He studied with Léon Bonnat (1833–1922) and Fernand Cormon (1845–1924), and in the process also became friendly with Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890).

Toulouse-Lautrec settled in Montmartre, painting his friends and a wide variety of female models, many of them drawn from the ranks of performers and prostitutes in the Parisian demimonde of music halls and cabarets. His genius for capturing a vivid likeness, often in the form of caricature, made him an ideal visual publicist for stage performers, who were dependent upon public recognition for box-office success. His sympathetic, even tender, depictions of marginalized performers and prostitutes, and his willful disregard for traditional rules of representation, resulted in some of the most memorable images of this brilliant period of French poster art. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, 1899, color lithograph, photograph by John Faier, © The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2015

THE PASSION FOR FRENCH POSTERS 13 THE RICHARD H. DRIEHAUS COLLECTION

n 2003, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum was founded in Chicago to preserve and publicly exhibit American and European fine and decorative arts of the Gilded Age (1870–1900). Today the Museum is a stunning showcase for late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art and design, displayed against the magnificent backdrop of the historic Samuel M. Nickerson Mansion (1879–83), which opened to the public in 2008 after an extensive five-year restoration. The Museum is a premier example of historic preservation, offering visitors an opportunity to experience through its architecture, interiors, collection, and exhibitions how the prevailing design philosophies of the period were interpreted by artists, architects, and designers at the waning of the nineteenth century and dawn of the twentieth century.

14 L’AFFICHOMANIA ABOUT THE CURATOR

eannine Falino is an independent curator and museum consultant. Formerly Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, she has created exhibitions and produced catalogues for many institutions. Recent exhibitions include Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design (Museum of Arts and Design, 2011–12), Gilded New York: Design, Fashion & Society (Museum of the City of New York, 2013–17), New York Silver, Then & Now (Museum of the City of New York, 2017–18), and L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters (The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago, 2017–18).

EXHIBITION SPECIFICATIONS

Number of Works Booking Period Approximately 62 objects, including posters, 12 weeks ephemera, videos, and one kiosk Tour Organized by 2019–2021 The Richard H. Driehaus Museum Publication Curator L’Affichomania: The Passion for French Posters Jeannine Falino, independent curator and museum by Jeannine Falino, preface by Richard H. Driehaus, consultant photographs by John A. Faier, published by The Monacelli Press, January 2017 Requirements High security; 3,500–4,000 square feet or 300–500 Contact linear feet [email protected] 9 Hillyer Court NW Participation Fee Washington, DC 20008 Please Inquire 202.338.0680 Shipping ArtsandArtists.org International Arts & Artists makes all arrangements; exhibitors pay courier and outgoing shipping costs within the contiguous U.S.